Consumer Confusion Mounts As Takata Air Bag Recalls Expand

The Mexican and the Japanese national flags are seen outside the Takata plant, the world's second-largest supplier of airbags and seat belts, in Monclova, in northern Coahuila state, April 11, 2013. The defective air bag infiltrators originated from this factory. Photo: Reuters/Daniel Becerril

Airbag recalls from major automakers are beginning to confuse consumers. And critics say the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should force automakers to simply recall all cars that have defective air bag inflators.

This week, Ford and Honda are expanding previously announced regional recalls. For the same problem, Chrysler is expanding its recall to include passenger-side air bags of some pickup trucks in high-humidity states. Consumers are left wondering what, for example, happens if someone purchases a car in Florida and then sells it to someone who takes it to Minnesota?

“There's no doubt consumers don’t know whether their cars are affected. I hear from them all the time,” said Clarence Ditlow, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Auto Safety. “Only a nationwide recall will straighten that out. And only a driver side and passenger side nationwide recall will straighten that out.” Ditlow says he's heard from returning enlisted soldiers who have bought cars affected by the recall in one part of the country and are deployed to another region -- they don't know if their cars are included in a recall or not.

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Adding to widespread misunderstanding of the problems, Takata, the manufacturer of the defective air bags, insists that recalls should focus on cars in high-humidity regions where moisture can penetrate the inflator and alter the ammonium-nitrate-based chemical formula used to rapidly inflate the bag. Takata holds about 20 percent of the global air bag market, is Honda’s biggest air bag supplier and is the only manufacturer that uses the caustic chemical formula in its inflators, according to Bloomberg.

The defect in 17 million vehicles worldwide has been linked to at least 139 injuries, including more than 30 in the U.S. Five confirmed deaths, four in the U.S. and one in Malaysia, have been linked to the flaw.

Ford said Wednesday it would expand a previously announced region-based recall to include all affected 2004-2005 model year Ford Ranger pickup trucks and 2005-2006 Ford GT sports cars nationwide. The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker – which says 98,000 of its vehicles contain the defect – initially announced a regional recall in June of some Rangers, GTs and 2005-2008 Mustangs sold or registered in Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Honda made a similar announcement Wednesday to expand nationwide a previously reported regional recall. About 10 million vehicles, mostly Honda vehicles, have been recalled in the U.S. since 2008, including about 7.8 million so far this year.

Chrysler in a separate announcement on Wednesday said it would voluntarily replace passenger-side Takata air bag inflators in about 149,000 model-year 2003 Ram pickups, including the larger 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty trucks that were sold or registered in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and U.S. territories.

Chrysler says it is continuing to study the air bag inflator issue “with great urgency,” but the NHTSA says the automaker needs to include more vehicles in its regional recall.

“Chrysler’s latest recall is insufficient, doesn’t meet our demands, and fails to include all inflators covered by Takata's defect information report,” the agency said in a statement to Automotive News.

The NHTSA also has taken issue with Takata’s resistance to complying with its demand to expand its recall to cover all affected cars in the country and is considering imposing a fine against the Japanese parts manufacturer. In Senate testimony last week, Hiroshi Shimizu, Takata’s senior vice president of global quality assurance, insisted that the hot and humid regions “must be the priority for the replacement of the suspect inflators.”

For further information, vehicle owners can go to the manufacturers; consumer websites or NHTSA’s Vehicle-Identification-Number-lookup tool. The NHTSA currently (as of Dec. 2, 2014) lists the following vehicles that contain the faulty Takata air bags.